Posted: 1/6/20 at 3:31pm
It's not a good film by any measure. That doesn't mean it can't be liked or enjoyed, but no one with any sense (or an IQ above 50) can say it was a good movie.
In order to preserve the dance nature of the stage production, they had no choice but to make a live action film. Animated cats simply wouldn't work in that context. However, unlike something like West Side Story, it is almost impossible to create any type of realistic-looking anthropomorphic animals without them looking ridiculous, even doing Andy Blankenbuehler's wretched choreography. The wildly out of scale "cats" and even the cinematography also don't do the film any favors.
Cats would have only have worked as an animated feature, but it would have lost much of if its choreographic nature. They should have done that, and then re-released an unedited cut of the 1998 video (though we still wouldn't have "Growltiger's Last Stand"
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Narratively, there were too many issues with the film. I always had the impression that many of the songs in Cats were simply the cats identifying who they thought were likely to be chosen. Only Jennyanydots, Bustopher Jones, and Gus seem to be the candidates in the context of the staging (Skimbelshanks seems to be there randomly, so maybe he counts as the fourth, but maybe not). And if Gus is too sympathetic (Sir John Mills from the 1998 video release, and to a lesser degree Ian McKellan), Grizabella seems to be an odd choice. Turning it into an audition I thought was a weak choice, especially since it's not consistent. I think choosing the original version of Mungojerry and Rumpelteaser was a mistake. It's too slow and lacks any true melody. And while I like the idea of a confidence-lacking Mr. Mistoffelees, it essentially neutered his song, which was one of the show's highlights.
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